Welcome Daxton Stanley Steadman

 Baby Dax was born on July 16, at 6:40 am. weighing 7 lbs. 13 oz., 21 in. long. 

I woke up to my first contraction at 5 am. I waited for the second one to be sure before I woke up Christian and called my mom. We quickly got our stuff together while we waited for my mom to arrive at our house. I couldn't help but notice that my contractions were especially painful for just starting out, and they were close together. I wasn't worried though because they didn't last very long. About 20 minutes in I had to sit down during my contractions and do my slow breathing to get through the pain. My mom finally got there, and we were off.

I probably got to my hospital room around 5:45. I struggled to change into the gown and answer the nurses' questions because my contractions were so painful. They told me one of the midwives, Ann, was on her way and if I thought I wanted an epidural to let them know. I was concerned because I really wanted Liz to get there since she was the one I had seen the most. We saw Ann at our very first appointment, and I liked her, but I was more familiar with Liz.

As soon as the nurses left the room I told Chris I wanted an epidural. The pain was becoming too much to handle, and I did not want to feel it anymore. The anesthesiologist walked in right before Ann. Ann quickly informed me she had to check and see how far I was dilated before I could get an epidural. My contractions were so close together and painful I could barely let her check. I was already at a 9! It was too late for any type of pain medication. There was nothing I could do but find a way to endure the pain.

Liz finally came into the room after what felt like an eternity but was probably just 30 minutes or so...I really have no idea. By that point I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. She calmly sat on the bed and told me I was in the worst place to be having contractions. She suggested if I walked around or sat on the toilet it would be less painful. I think I just shook my head because I didn't know how I was supposed to move. She again suggested that I move to the toilet and try that. I had a contraction after which she said it looked like I wanted to push. I told here I didn't know if I could push. She said to do what my body told me to do. I didn't like that answer because with Quinn the nurse told me when to push.

Somehow we made it to the toilet, and I knew I couldn't hold off pushing much longer and expressed my concern about having him in the toilet. They moved me back to the bed and got out the birthing stool. I never managed to sit down, but instead had Daxton while standing with my hands resting on the bed. I had not planned to have him standing up (tmi? I'm still in shock over the whole thing)

I was momentarily terrified after I had Daxton because I couldn't hear him crying. I knew Quinn came out immediately crying so I was worried something was wrong. After everything went down, Dax was healthy and in my arms, Liz said it was a really beautiful delivery because Daxton was born with his amniotic sac still intact. That is why I couldn't hear him crying; he was basically born inside of a water balloon. I wish I could've seen it or gotten a picture. Chris saw it, and the midwives said it popped just from handling it. From the stats I found on the internet this apparently occurs 1 in 80,000 births, and Asian cultures believe it brings that person a lifetime of good luck. We will see if Dax experiences a lucky life.

I can't say enough about how great everything went. Our family has truly been blessed. Apart from feeling the pain, the whole experience was 100 times better than having Quinn at the Provo hospital. I am so grateful it was a quick labor and delivery (an hour and forty minutes). I don't know how anyone goes longer than that without an epidural or anything. Since I had no painkillers I had no negative side effects after Dax was born. I could get up to go the bathroom, I had my appetite shortly after, and most importantly, no headache! Hudson was great. They didn't rush us with anything. Daxton's first bath was with me in the jetted tub in our room. They didn't rush us at checkout, they weren't constantly checking on us, the nurses were very nice, everything was great.

Daxton is healthy and doing well. He has two cute little dimples, dark hair, and he has a more slender build than Quinn had. I can't wait to watch him grow and see how he changes and develops. I am so grateful to have him in our family, and I am especially glad to not be pregnant anymore!

Quinn is doing good with him. He hasn't really acted out or anything from having someone else taking some of his attention away. I am grateful he has a little brother he will be able to play with soon enough, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Dax is only two weeks old, and I want to enjoy him while he is an infant.

This and That

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately.

Quinner found himself a good book to read. He's learning at a young age how to be chivalrous.

We were playing outside and like a classic boy Quinn went straight for the dirt then rubbed his eyes. He looked like a ruffian/raccoon. 

Dad got a kite and attached it to a fishing pole so he could feel like he was fishing.

 

 

Grandma and grandpa built a teeter-totter for the grandchildren. 

Grandma wanted cookies so she made dozens of two different kinds in one night. She really goes all out, but it was fun to have Quinner help.

 

37 Weeks

I am ready to have this baby, well kind of. I'm excited to not be pregnant and have my little baby out with me, but I am afraid of the labor and delivery. I am going to try to do it without an epidural, so this delivery will be nothing like Quinn's. Other than that, everything is going well. Baby has dropped, as of last week I was dilated to 3 cm, my hips are sore, and I'm having frequent braxton hicks contractions. I thought I was going to have him last week. I had this feeling of urgency along with contractions almost every night, but no baby.

I am trying to convince myself that he will be on time so I stop killing myself with anticipation. He just cannot come next week! My mother will be over two hours away at girl's camp.  We will see if he cooperates.

35 Weeks

 (my painting is in the background. I love it, but we discovered that it is not good to take pictures in front of. The gray undertones aren't very flattering)

5 weeks sounds like a good amount of time, but it is coming up really fast. We still need to do some major things in our apartment before this baby is allowed to come, and I can only work on my updates while Quinn is asleep. Aaahhh so much to do, but I am excited to meet our new little baby. Now what to name him?...

Luckily the heartburn only lasted a couple nights,  but I'm still pretty congested from getting sick. Baby is still moving around a ton, and I feel like my stomach has gotten bigger within the last week. I already don't have a decent pair of pants to wear and now even my shirts aren't fitting very well. It will be nice to wear normal clothes again.

We are still working on the game plan for when I go into labor. Epidural or no epidural? I really can't decide because the biggest unknown is how long it is going to last. If I knew that I feel like I could be mentally prepared to stick it out for so long, but there is no way to know. We will need to keep discussing it with the midwife to see if we can come up with some good pain tolerance strategies.

All in all I'm doing pretty good. I do complain about the sore hips and when Baby hits my sciatic nerve and a shooting pain goes down my thigh. I know other women have it a lot worse, and I am grateful to have had two healthy, full-term pregnancies. There is no greater blessing than having children even though the weight gain, discomfort, and awkward body shape make being pregnant not so fun sometimes. However, it is definitely, definitely worth it.

Happy Father's Day! (#2)

I would like to wish my dad, husband, father-in-law, and all of our father friends a very happy Father's Day! Ours was very low key. Christian is going to find a remote controlled airplane for his gift so we didn't have much to do today. We went to church, took naps, then went to my parents' for dinner. It's always nice to have a relaxing Sunday.

I am so grateful for Christian and how great of a dad he is. He is so great with Quinn. It is very apparent how much Quinn loves Chris by the way he is always saying "Dada." He rarely says mama. I love the days when we spend time together just the three of us (soon to be 4!). I truly believe that having children under the right circumstances brings us the most joy in life. Fathers and mothers are both needed! And I'm glad that both have a day out of the year to be recognized for everything they do. Fathers like Christian definitely deserve it!

A little side note:
I have acquired my first victim for refinishing. I will post before and after pictures. Actually, I will post them only if it turns out. I'm not sure how this is going to go because I haven't done anything like this before, but I need a new hobby, and I'm really not liking the bulbosaur entertainment center we have right now. So cross your fingers and I will keep you updated. I'm done to 5 weeks and still have a very long list of things I want done.

34 Weeks and a Big Surprise

34 Weeks

Where do I even begin? I was doing good and cruising along until this week. Quinn got sick (I blame nursery). I was so sad for him because his little voice was hoarse, he wasn't sleeping well, and I could tell he was miserable...and then I got it, and I knew he was miserable. Throw on top of being sick the worst heart burn in my life, and the usual tiredness of being 34 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy has definitely had it's differences from my first.

This baby is constantly moving! I do get some inner joy and tender feelings toward our little guy while he's moving around, but when he's kicking me from the inside and Quinn is kicking me from the outside, I want a little break.

I just started getting heart burn the last couple of nights, and it has been terrible. It is not just the acidic heart burn that bubbles up every once in a while but this heavy pain in my whole chest. I thought I would have to go to the emergency room last night and get a c-section to relieve my agony. That is a little extreme, but I hadn't slept, my throat hurt, my ears were itchy, and my chest hurt so bad, something had to give.

This pregnancy I have gone from craving vegetables to carbs to ice cream to cereal. Now I am at that point where I have no room in my stomach for much of anything, and I don't get hungry. I know I need to keep eating, but there is no room in there. Baby is taking up all of my space. These are all new things that I didn't have with Quinn and it's been hard to get used to because I wasn't expecting them. I thought things would sail as smoothly as the first, but they aren't.  I will admit that today I've started to feel doubtful about being able to go another six weeks. At this point it seems like a really long time.

My Big Surprise!

Since we have moved out here I have been scouring Craigslist, pinterest, and the whole internet on ways to decorate and furnish our new home. We actually have space we can fill and the freedom to coordinate and do what I want. The big thing is that I need to try to spend as little money as possible while trying to get everything done on my ambitious list before Baby gets here.

The first thing we needed before we could do anything was a couch because our whole color scheme and set up of our living room revolves around that main piece of furniture. However, before we could get a couch, we needed to have our garage sale to empty out some of the garage and raise money for the couch. After two weekends of garage selling we called it good and started looking at furniture stores.

At the second furniture store we visited I found a sectional I really liked. I loved the fabric, color, size, and the price of the sectional. We decided we would go home and measure out our space to make sure it would fit and return to the store on Monday. We measured our space and thought the sectional may be too big because we wanted to make sure Quinn would still have room to play, and I didn't want our whole space taken up by a couch.

We were really bummed out but thought it was the right decision to keep looking. On Tuesday we tried a different furniture store. We found a sectional we liked, but it was a little over our budget. We walked through the whole store not liking anything else, and then I saw the same sectional from the previous store. We went and sat on it, and I was convinced it was smaller and couldn't be as big as the other one. Christian assured me it was the same sectional and there was no size difference. It just didn't seem like it would be too big. Also, it was cheaper than the first store we saw it in.

Christian talked to the saleswoman, and we decided to get it, but the next question was the color. We both really liked the grey, but they would've had to order it and it wouldn't have arrived for 3-4 weeks. I have a baby coming in six! How could I wait that long? I still need to paint, refinish two dressers, find curtains, kitchen rugs, bathroom rugs, and hang things on the walls. All of this is waiting on the couch. We talked it over and waiting another 3-4 weeks was worth it to get the color we wanted if you considered that we will have this couch for a very long time. I conceded to having to take my paint swatches to the store so I could pick which one went best with the grey couch and kind of going from there.

Fast forward to Saturday. We didn't have much going on, but my parents were really busy hosting a camp-out for the young women. I didn't think we were going to go over there at all, and we would have a lazy Saturday at home. My dad called in the afternoon and asked if we wanted to come over, and Christian said he wanted to go look at guns. As soon as we got to their house he asked Christian to go with him to buy some dirt at Fleet Farm. I thought that was their out to make a stop to look at guns somewhere along the way. I was happy to just get out of our house and hang out somewhere else so I didn't complain.

Later that evening it had seemed like they had been out too long to just be buying some dirt, but I just assumed they had stopped to shoot guns or look at guns or something along those lines that was fun for them. They brought dinner home, and we hung out for a little while longer until Quinn's bedtime when we had to leave. When we got home we came in through the garage, and I was distracted with getting Quinn out of his seat and starting to prepare him for bed...until I looked over into our living room. My sectional was sitting there, and I could not believe what I was seeing! I jumped up and down and ran over there having no idea how we had our couch already. While I was laying all over my couch I looked at our wall and saw the painting I had admired at the store and commented on how it would go well with the dune colored couch while taking up a good portion of our vaulted ceiling wall space. Christian, in all of his sneaky ways, ordered the dune color instead of the pewter so we could get it sooner, and he also got the painting along with it. I love him, and I love my new couch and painting!

I think it will work out really well because the dune is more of a tan gray which will allow me to bring in warmer colors as opposed to the pewter where I would have had to stick to cool colors. I absolutely love it, and it doesn't take up too much space. I will be great for entertaining and snuggling my Quinn and new baby. We got it at perfect timing too because Saturday night was the night my heart burn was really bad so I came out on the couch and was able to fall asleep propped up on our spacious sectional. Now if only we could get a bigger TV....I know, one thing at a time. A new TV is towards the bottom of my home furnishings list and is a ways off. I think next is a little bit of paint to warm up our very white walls.

I will take some pictures to add to this post. I just wanted to get all the details of my very exciting weekend written down.

14 Months

Quinn has changed so much and has learned so many new things in the two months we have been living in the Midwest. When we first got out here it was hard for me because he really transitioned from a baby to a toddler. He makes me laugh everyday, and it just amazes me how smart he is.

Here are some of the new things he has learned: he signs "more" and "all done." He doesn't quite understand what "more" is for, but he knows it's associated with food so he uses it mostly when he's hungry. He knows that "all done" means he gets to get out of his high chair. He also knows the sign for "bird" and will use it when he hears birds or sometimes when he's looking outside.

Before he would only acknowledge kitties and kind of ignore dogs, but since he has been around Bella he now will imitate her howl and associates that with every dog he sees. I'm not sure that he knows that most dogs bark, but it is so cute when he howls.

He has recently picked up on how to pray. If we are saying family prayers he is good about being quiet and folding his arms. He even bows his head a little. Today he was sitting in his high chair while I was trying to feed him and he started praying. He will fold his arms and talk real quietly. It is so adorable! I have such a sweet boy. I need to catch that on film, but whenever we take our phones out he stops doing whatever it was that was cute.

Christian uses snakey on Quinn, and he loves it. He laughs and tries to get away, but now he starts retaliating with his own snakey. He makes the sound and holds up his hand--another thing I need to catch on film.

Quinn can also blow his own bubbles, open the doors in our house (we have lever handles), and he plays really well in nursery, except for when Grandma is holding another child. Then he gets jealous and wants to take his rightful place on her lap. I think that sums up a lot of the new things he is doing. Sorry if this bores anyone. I think of this blog as an extension of my journal, and I want these things documented.